


You Can Sleep In My Room

by bettycooperthefirst



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-09
Updated: 2018-04-09
Packaged: 2019-04-20 11:23:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14259897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bettycooperthefirst/pseuds/bettycooperthefirst
Summary: Jughead leaves his dorm room on a hunt for food only to find Betty Cooper sleeping in the hallway outside his door.





	You Can Sleep In My Room

Jughead Jones was hungry. To be fair, he was always hungry. There wasn’t a moment in his day that he couldn’t go for a cheeseburger. But right now, he was really truly hungry. It was midnight and he had just realized how long it had been since he’d eaten. He opened up his window and the smell of bacon wafted up from the 24 Hour diner across the street from the residence hall. He could swear he could smell the grease of the hash browns that he always downed within moments of them landing on his plate. Maybe that was what he wanted to eat. It seemed easier than throwing something together on his own. It was April and the weather was finally starting to warm up, but it was still a bit chilly, so he grabbed a green flannel from his closet and threw it on over his t shirt.   
As he stepped into the hallway, he noticed something strange. At first glance, it almost looked like someone left a pile of blankets on the floor in the hallway, but when he focused his eyes, he saw a pretty blonde girl cuddled up underneath them. She was the girl who lived 3 doors down. He considered walking past her and minding his own business, but he had heard rumors about her roommate around campus; the other girl was known for being a bitch, and it was possible that she had done something mean to the blonde. So he stopped in front of her and looked down at her grey and white bunny blanket.  
“Are you okay?”   
She looked up at him and he swore she looked even prettier up close. He’d never talked to her, but she was in his American History class and she’d given a rant about feminism last week when Reggie Mantle made a crude comment about women’s right to vote.   
“Yeah, just tired.”   
“Is there a reason you’re lying on the floor instead of in your own bed?”  
She let out a big sigh and sat up.   
“My roommate has her boyfriend in there. I was going to just go to sleep but they started messing around and it got really gross to listen to really fast. I came out here and then she locked the door behind me. It’s not like I don’t have anywhere else to go, I just...don’t have anywhere else to go tonight. My best friend is away for the weekend in the Hampton’s with her boyfriend.”   
That sounded familiar.  
“Is your best friend Veronica Lodge?”  
Surprise colored her features.   
“Yes...”  
“My roommate is her boyfriend. Archie Andrews, also away for the weekend in the Hamptons.”   
The sound of laughter floated from Betty’s room and she made a disgusted face.   
“They’re disgusting. You know that gross sound that happens sometimes when two people are kissing? They make that sound every time they kiss. It’s horrible to listen to.”   
Jughead thought about the hash browns at the diner and how it only took them five minutes to fry them up. He looked at Betty and saw how tired she was. He could see it in her eyes and hear it in her voice.   
“If you need somewhere to sleep, Archie’s bed is open.”  
She raised her eyebrow.   
“Oh!” Jughead could feel the blood rushing to his cheeks. “I’m not trying to- I would be a complete gentleman. I’ll even come sleep out here in the hall if you want I could-“   
“Slow down.” Betty laughed. “Thank you. I will take any bed at this point. And besides that, I get the feeling you are a complete gentleman anyway.”   
She stood up and gathered her bunny blanket in her arms. Her socks peeked out at the bottom, grey and white and fuzzy. A piece of her gold hair fell into her eyes and she tucked it behind her ear. Jughead forgot all about the hash browns. 

\---

“He’s a freakin blockhead.”  
Jughead was sitting on his bed, Betty on Archies. They had them set up so that the foot of both beds met in the corner of the room, and when Betty first came in, she had sat awkwardly in the middle of Archies twin bed, unsure of how to get comfortable. But now, they were both sitting on the foot of their respective beds, leaning up against the wall, talking about everything from UFO’s to George Washington to their current topic: Reggie Mantle.  
“We went to high school together,” Betty was saying. “He was all about football and girls and playing football to impress girls.” She stuck her tongue out and made a face that made Jughead laugh.  
“Did it work? Impressing the girls?”  
“Most of them.” Betty rolled her eyes, but she smiled. “Just not this one.”  
Good, Jughead thought.  
“God, high school was so different and yet so the same, you know?” She sighed.  
He definitely knew. “There’s still your cool kids and your uncool kids, the classic high school trope lovingly carried over.”  
“Everyone is still obsessed with knowing everyone else’s business, it’s just easier now to find out because we all live in the same building.” She dramatically gestured around her.  
“And good old Reggie Mantle is still getting all the girls.” Jughead joked.  
“Except this one!” Betty protested, laughing.  
“Which is the only one that really matters, right?” Jughead said, without thinking. He waited for his mistake to blow up in his face, but instead Betty smiled at him again.  
Then she let out a big yawn and tucked another stray hair behind her ear. She had been getting progressively sleepier over the last few minutes, he had noticed. “We should probably go to sleep.”  
He felt his heart drop a little bit. He knew it had to happen at some point, but he’d been hoping that it wouldn’t be for a long while. He wanted to keep talking to her. But she was right. And she was tired. So he only said “Yeah, probably.”  
Betty picked up a pillow that Archie had somehow left on the floor and laid it down on the foot of the bed. Jughead didn’t correct her, not wanting her to flip over and face away from him. Instead, he grabbed his own pillow and did the same, hoping it wouldn’t make things weird.  
She snuggled in under her blanket and smiled at him, her eyes looking like they could fall shut at any moment.  
Jughead leaned over and turned off the light, sending them into darkness. He wanted to say something. Something that would make her know that he wanted to do this again. Not the sleepover, in this way, but the talking. He couldn’t see her now, and she couldn’t see him, and maybe that would make it easier for him to tell her what he was thinking about how her laugh was contagious in the best way and how the next time a piece of her hair fell in her eyes, he wanted to be the one to tuck it behind her ear. But before he could say anything, Betty spoke first.  
“Hey Jughead?”  
“Yeah?”  
“Is it weird that I’m kind of glad I got locked out of my room tonight?”  
He couldn’t see anything, but he was sure that he was now smiling bigger than ever before, and he decided to take a chance.  
“No… Is it weird that I’m kind of glad that you got locked out of your room tonight?”  
She was probably only quiet for a second, but it felt like hours.  
“No. That just makes the whole thing even better.” He could hear sleep sneaking into her voice and pulling her under. “Goodnight Juggie. Wait, can I call you Juggie? Is that stupid?”  
No one in his entire life had ever called him that, but suddenly it was his favorite nickname.  
“It’s not stupid at all.”  
“Okay. Night Juggie.”  
His stomach growled softly and he could smell the hash browns and bacon from the diner again, but for the first time in what seemed like forever, food wasn’t the first thing on his mind.  
“Goodnight Betts.”


End file.
